160
NOTES AND QUERIES, p* s. VIIL AUG. *, uoi.
lished * Touchachath Megoolah : an Open
Remonstrance.'
In 1771 Prof. Levysohn, who had been studying under the celebrated surgeon John Hunter, published his philosophical work 'Maamar Hatourah W'hachochmar,' 'An Essay on the Law and Science,' his object being to inculcate that theology and science must go hand in hand. This work gave so much offence to his co-religionists that he left London and went to reside in Hamburg. It was he who discovered the use of chocolate.
In 1802, after several years had been passed without a Chief Rabbi, the German com- munities appointed Solomon Herschell. He occupied the position for forty years, and his influence was so great that during that period the Ashkenazim made rapid pro- gress, twenty-five charitable societies and institutions were formed, and in addition to these a new synagogue was founded in Brewer Street. At his death at the age of eighty - one a medal was struck in his honour. He was succeeded by Dr. Nathan Marcus Adler, who was appointed on the 12th of December, 1844; and on his death in 1890 he was succeeded by his son, the present Chief Rabbi. I am in- debted for many of the facts I have given to the Rev. Moses Margoliouth's interesting book 'The History of the Jews in Great Britain,' published by Bentley in 1851. Mr. Margoliouth's first work was, as is well known, 'A Pilgrimage to the Land of my Fathers ' I am glad to learn that a copy of the former book in the hands of his nephew, the Rev. G. W. Margoliouth, of the British Museum, contains many original notes by the author, so perhaps we may see a revised edition brought up to the present time. One has only to look over the pages of the ' London Catalogue ' and at the shelves of the London Library to see how few have been the books published on the Jews. The Whitechapel Free Public Library contains one of the most complete collections of books relating to the Jews, a separate catalogue being devoted to it. The most complete little manual of the Jewish religion is that by Friedlander, published by Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co., 1891. In its pages can be found every particular con- cerning the Jewish faith. He is also the author of a small ' Text-Book ' adapted for teachers.
- Jewish Portraits,' by Lady Magnus, pub-
lished by Fisher Unwin, contains a beautiful sketch of that sweet singer " who solved the pathetic puzzle of how to sing the Lord's
song in a strange land " Jehudah Halevi,
physician and poet.
"He 'entered the courts with gladness.' 'For Thy songs, God ! ' he cries, ' my heart is a harp ; and truly enough in some of these ancient Hebrew hymns... ..we seem to hearclearly the human strings vibrate."
The truest faith, the most living hope, the
widest charity, are breathed forth in them ;
and they have naturally been enshrined by
his fellow-believers in the most sacred parts
of their liturgy. The following three lines
from the Atonement service Lady Magnus
quotes as indicating the sentiment of Judaism:
When I remove from Thee, O God,
I die whilst I live ; but when
I cleave to Thee, I live in death.
The poet questions,
Lord, where art Thou to be found ?
Hidden and high is Thy home.
And where shall we find Thee not ?
Thy glory fills the world.
Thou art found in my heart,
And at the uttermost ends of the earth. A refuge for the near, For the far, a trust.
The Jewish Historical Society is rendering useful work, arid thanks are due to it for the very interesting monograph just published by Macmillan on 'MenasSeh Ben Israel's Mission to Oliver Cromwell/ edited by Lucien Wolf.
It has been left to America to gather into the compass of one work all that concerns the Hebrew people. The Funk & Wag- nails Company of New York have just pub- lished the first volume there are to be twelve in all of the 'Jewish Encyclopaedia,' edited by Isidore Singer, Ph.D. The work will be a complete history of the Hebrews from legendary times down to the present; each of the volumes will contain between seven and eight hundred pages. It is gratifying to know that six thousand subscribers have already been obtained. N. S. S.
(To be continued.}
"PITCHER." This is referred to by Prof.
Skeat in both his dictionaries as a Languedoc
word, yet the only forms he adduces are
Northern French. I presume he has not yet
met with the Southern forms, and he may
therefore be interested in the following note
from the third volume of the complete works
of Dr.. Mila y Fontanals, Barcelona, 1890.
The author is explaining a Provencal poem,
dating from about 1419, in which is men-
tioned a certain " pixer de fin argent," and
he gives the cognate terms known to him as
follows: "El pixer encuentrase tambien en
valenciano (pitxer), en Catalan (pitxell\ en
